


Walk a while in my shoes

by Greyfore



Category: Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-07
Updated: 2018-06-07
Packaged: 2019-05-19 07:18:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14869208
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Greyfore/pseuds/Greyfore
Summary: Shadow wakes up in Sonic's bedroom, not only that but he wakes up in Sonic's body! He must find out what happened and how to get back to his own body. My first fic originally posted on FanFiction.net





	1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1 - New Day, New Body

 

The sun shone through the window bathing the room in its golden rays. A blue hedgehog stirred as he found light creeping in through his eyelids.  
"Mmurrgghh." he mumbled as he turned over, thinking 'I swore I closed those curtains' to himself.  
"Wake up Sonic!" cried Tails, banging on his door.  
"Wha… muh? … shleep…" could just be heard as he pulled the covers over his head.  
A couple of questions ran through the hedgehog's mind at this point.  
'What the hell is he doing here? I don't remember letting him stay over last night.'  
'Why does he keep calling me Sonic?' Then it dawned on him; 'Sonic?! That's not my….name?!'  
A cobalt blur positioned itself in front of a mirror, which revealed a short hedgehog with emerald green eyes and a look of complete terror. The mammal then unleashed a deafening scream.  
Shadow the Hedgehog had become Sonic the Hedgehog.

-=-

"Shadow the Gloomy Hedgehog, how can I help you?" the sound of his own voice being so… so… cheery was almost too painful to hear.  
"Sonic I want my body back!" the blue hedgehog yelled down the phone, venom coating his words as he paced the room with the body of, Sonic's; phone in his other hand.  
"Oh, hey Stripes! Wondered when you'd call." his voice got even cheerier as he realised who was calling. "I had a look through your stuff and found your pictures Shads. Gotta say you're quite the artist, but just one subject? You have to learn to draw something else dude."  
"Give. It. BACK!" spittle flew across the room.  
"I thought I'd go for a run first, you know; see what you can do, where I can go and… who I could talk to." A smile could be heard wrapping itself around those last words.  
"You dare and you'll regret it," Shadow growled into the receiver.  
"Oh?" Sonic was just asking for it.  
"I'll kiss Amy," Shadow threatened, "A big wet kiss, right on the lips."  
"So? She's managed to trick me into kissing her loads of times, I'm not that scared" Shadow could hear his own voice wavering on the other end. Time for the big guns.  
"Is that so? I guess we'll have to ramp this up then." The blue hedgehog was grinning like he had never done before. "I think Tails would make a wonderful Ring Barer, don't you?"  
"What?" he sounded so full of fear, you could smell it a mile off. "You don't mean-"  
"Yes I do." The blue figure began tapping his foot impatiently, "I'm going to propose to Amy Rose, unless you get myself over here in the next five seconds." He placed the receiver back on main phone and put it down.  
He had just walked out of the bedroom when a loud knocking could be heard on the front door. A familiar yet strange voice could be heard talking to Tails, as he looked downstairs he saw himself with a distinctly different look on his face. Shadow decided to wait for Sonic by his room.  
"Hey, buddy where's Sha-Sonic?"  
"He's in his room. Shadow?" the little fox seemed puzzled, "Are you ok Shadow?"  
"Yeah, fine, little guy." Wandering upstairs he found a blue hedgehog leaning in the doorway to his room.  
"Tails could you go out for a bit? We need to talk." Shadow asked, seeing that he had followed 'Shadow' to see what was going on.  
"Err.. sure thing, Sonic." Tails looked baffled, but he just nodded, went downstairs and closed the front door behind him.  
Sonic walked past the stern looking blue hedgehog and fell onto the bed.  
"So, what do we do now?"


	2. Into the lion's den

The dark hedgehog found himself pinned to the wall by his blue counterpart, random ornaments falling to the floor, his feet dangling below him.

"Calm!" Sonic's voice was sounding more like that of its current occupant than it should, "You want me to be calm!"

"Yeah, we'll get nowhere if we lose our temper. Will we, Shadow?" The black hedgehog sounded smug.

Shadow turned his head to the nearest window, released his grip letting Sonic fall to the floor; he walked over to the window and looked outside. The morning sun was slowly being blotted by a wave of darker clouds. He could see other Mobians getting on with they're daily activities, no one had heard the outburst he just made.

"So as I said before," said Sonic, dusting his ebony fur, "what are we going to do?"

Shadow turned round and made his way to Sonic's closet, opening it and sifting through the junk and old clothes for something.

"Well?" Sonic was getting impatient, an old pair of socks flew past his head, "Hey, watch it!"

"We're going to have to try and find a disguise and lay low for now." Shadow stood up from the pile he was searching and revealed two poorly kept jackets. "But we may need to make a few stops first." He dropped them back in the pile.

"Like?"

"We may need to change our appearance, so I suggest we try and find some fur and quill dye for starters." Shadow walked over to Sonic's signature red and white shoes and slipped them on.

"And where do you suggest we go for this?" Sonic, obviously looking put out that he couldn't have a little fun as the Ultimate Lifeform.

"We could try Amy's." Shadow picked up a piece of paper and pen and started writing, "She should have all we need, if not we'll head to the local store."

"Do we have to go to Amy's?" The thought of going toward that fan-crazed girl made Sonic shudder.

"No need to worry, after all she's after Sonic the Hedgehog." Shadow made Sonic's smile and thumbs up pose.

"Woah, that was pretty good," Sonic began to grin, "but you need to really make people feel it." He pulled the same pose which, as Shadow, did not suit him at all.

"I'm sure I can distract Amy long enough for you to sneak in and get what we need." He placed the list he just wrote into Sonic's hands.

"Ok, just make sure you don't propose to her." Sonic remarked, slipping the list inside his glove.

"So long as you don't take all day, I won't have to resort to that, will I?" Shadow's tell tale smile spread across Sonic's face.

The journey to Amy's was pretty uneventful, other than the times where the blue hedgehog, tripped over his own feet now and again, while the black one laughed. Shadow was so used to skating, that a simple run was not that simple.

As they approached, they could easily see Amy in the kitchen, cooking something. They ducked behind a nearby tree and discussed tactics.

"Right, I'll knock on the front door and start talking to her, while you sneak in through the back and get the things I put on that list." He peeked around the tree, Amy was placing something in the oven. "I'll give you five minutes, you better be in and out by then."

"No sweat, Stripes. I'm the fastest thing alive, remember?" he flashed a toothy grin.

"How can anyone forget?" said Shadow, "In, out then meet back at mine."

Shadow made his way to Amy's front door and gave it a few quick knocks, trying desperately to think of something Sonic would say. Amy opened the door, she was wearing a yellow apron with a Flicky bird design on it.

"Sonic!" she yelled and leapt forward, pinning his arms to his side and crushing the life from Shadow.

"Err.. Hey Amy, you busy?" The words left him like most of the oxygen in his lungs, painfully.

Amy loosened her grip around Shadow's waist, but her hands slid down his arms and gripped his hands tightly.

"I've actually just put a cake in the oven, so I've got all the time in the world for you, Sonic," the last few words didn't even need to be said, her loving eyes were firmly locked on Shadow's.

"Great, I wanted to talk to you about something." Shadow led Amy away from her front porch and over to the tree he and Sonic were just standing behind.

"You've not seen Dr. Eggman about have you?" He had to stop himself from calling him Robotnik, "I thought I saw him come this way and wanted to make sure you were ok." The sincerity was almost killing him.

"Oh Sonic! You do care!" Amy gave Shadow another bear hug, letting go again before he passed out, "No I haven't; what do you think he's up to this time?"

"I've no idea, but I'll stop him don't you worry," Shadow breathed deeply, feeling pretty sure that she had broken one of his ribs, "If you do see him, let me know."

"Sure thing, Sonic," Her eyes suddenly lit up, "Do you want to come inside? I can make you a glass of lemonade." She began dragging Shadow towards the house.

"No that's ok, Amy, really," Shadow found her grip was beginning to cut the circulation off to his hand. He had to think fast.

"Say, Amy, what are you doing this weekend?"

She stopped and released his hand and starting thinking, her eyes gazing towards the sky.

"There's that new romance film at the cinema I was hoping to see…" She stopped and stared at the blue hedgehog "Why Sonic! Are you asking me out on a date?"

"Wha? No I-"Shadow began to splutter with surprise.

"Oh Sonic you're such a charmer," She began to blush, "You can pick me up at 5 o'clock sharp, don't be late."

She gave Shadow a quick peck on the cheek and wondered back inside, while Shadow just stood there wondering what had just happened.

"Damn." muttered Shadow. He turned away and started to head back home.

He hoped Sonic had enough time to get the items they needed; and that he was free this Friday.


	3. False Colours

After several trip ups on his way home, all that could be heard from scowling blue hedgehog was the low mumbling of him complaining about 'stupid Sonic' and 'stupid shoes'.

Shadow's house was really just a large bungalow; with white walls, a terracotta tile roof and a seemingly well kept garden, it didn't seem like the sort of place you'd find the ultimate life form living. The only evidence to it belonging to Shadow was a small barbed fence, about waist high acting as a perimeter. A sign attached said 'Trespassers will be shot on sight'. As Shadow approached the front door he avoided going for the spare key, hidden under a nearby plant pot, knowing quite well he may be seen by any passer bys.

He knocked on his own front door in an undecidedly uncomfortable way.

Sonic opened the door, looking sheepish and holding a wet cloth in his free hand.

"Hey, didn't expect to see you back so soon." his eyes were avoiding contact with Shadow's "Thought Amy might have kidnapped you and done chaos knows what to you."

"What have you done?" Shadow had no time for small talk.

He stepped into the house, closing the door behind him and smelt something burnt; something close. He looked down and found jet-shoe shaped burn marks in his carpet.

Sonic tried to force some sort of apologetic smile.

"Eh, heh. Who knew my running would heat your shoes up so much?" Sonic was beginning to trying to make light of a bad situation.

It wasn't working.

"Take them off, now," Shadow pointed to the jet-shoes Sonic was still wearing, "or you'll find out what flavour _your_ shoes taste like when I kick you in the a-."

"Ok, ok! I'll take them off." Sonic slipped them off his feet and passed them over to Shadow, "No need to get violent, dude."

Shadow sighed deeply and walked into his living room found the nearest seat, a faded red sofa, and slumped into it, his jet-shoes dropping to the floor.

" _This day just keeps getting better and better."_ He thought to himself.

Sonic walked in carrying a large flowery pink bag, which he tipped on to the large dinning table in the corner.

"Right, lets choose what we're gonna use and get it over with." Sonic began arranging the items he 'acquired' at Amy's. "We've got a small range of colours; red, blue, green, purple and pink." He picked up the blue box and gave it a small shake.

"Why am I not surprised?" Shadow said, seeing what colour Sonic had chosen. He pulled himself off the worn sofa and walked up to the table, giving each box a quick shake to find which had the most left inside. Luckily he found it was the green one which didn't actually seem to have been used.

"Green it is then," he muttered, "I was hoping for either the red or purple, honestly."

Shadow then noticed something near Sonic's arm, which was resting on the table.

"What's that" he pointed with the box he had picked up.

"Oh that? It's a pair of fur straighteners," Sonic seemed almost embarrassed, "I was gonna straighten the bends out of your quills, they're pretty distinct you know?"

Shadow just stared at Sonic for a moment, realizing the truth the dark hedgehog had just spouted.

"I'd hate to admit it but you're right; fine head to the bathroom and get sorted, I'll be in the one in my room doing the same." He turned and made his way to the bedroom, while Sonic pulled a plastic bottle from under the table he had hidden from Shadow.

Sonic knew the blue dye would hardly show with the dark black fur he currently had, thankfully the bottle of peroxide he got from Amy's would make short work of that problem.

Shadow kicked off Sonic's red and white shoes as he entered his room and took the gloves off, tossing them on his bed. He walked into his en suite and stepped in his shower, soaking his fur. Stepping out, he donned a pair of plastic gloves and started applying the dye. The blue fur absorbed the colour like a sponge turning it to a deep sea green colour; not great but it would have to do. He stood in front of the mirror while his fur dried and made sure all the necessary parts of his fur were covered. He heard a noise coming from the direction of the bathroom Sonic was using.

It sounded like singing.

While Shadow had never sung in his life, he found his voice was actually pleasant to hear; his only objection was Sonic's choice in songs. Unsurprisingly they were all about himself; all 'Sonic this' and 'Super Sonic that', Shadow was astonished his ego didn't slow him down.

"Hey, Karaoke King, you finished in there yet?" Shadow knocked on the door a few times.

"Just drying myself off, Shads." Sonic had left Shadows gloves and rings outside, the now green hedgehog picked them up and put them on. He had almost forgotten the feeling of his own gloves, the golden cuffs slowly draining his power. He felt strange wearing his cuffs as Sonic's body didn't depend solely on Chaos energy, Shadow realised Sonic would need these to hold back the power he could now wield.

Sonic opened the door and stepped out, his fur was a dark midnight blue colour; he still had Shadow's red stripes running through his fur, but the bends at the end had been straightened making him look similar to Sonic but with a sterner look about him.

"I'm impressed," Shadow said, "didn't think the blue would show through the black."

"Yeah, surprised me too," he didn't want Shadow to crucify him for bleaching his fur; yet. "So now we've got this part done what's next?" Sonic began checking himself out in the hallway mirror.

"Now," Shadow started, wandering back to his bedroom, "we get some clothes on."

"Huh?" Sonic looked baffled, "We dye our fur and you want us to dress up too; are we gonna go join a circus or something?"

The navy hedgehog stood in the doorway of Shadow's room, admiring the décor; three of the walls were a pale lavender while the remaining wall was a pure white. Looking down he saw his sneakers lying on the soft grey carpet.

"Hey Shadow, can I take my shoes back?"

"Go ahead," Shadow's voice emerged from wardrobe in the corner, "I was going to take mine back; once I've cleaned the burnt carpet off them"

"Yeah, sorry about that man" Sonic slipped his shoes back on, feeling slightly tighter due to different foot structure, but still every bit as comfortable. "I'll pay for a new carpet once this is over."

"Good to hear," Shadow emerged carrying a coat in each arm, "Saves me having to skin you alive and have your pelt cover the marks." A grin made itself quite apparent across Shadow's face. "Here try this on." He threw a red suede jacket to Sonic.

"I never knew you to be the dress-up sort" Commented Sonic as he gave the coat a quick look over, on the back was a golden ring with wings.

"I'm not; but while I was staying at Rouge's, before I got a place of my own," Shadow slid his own jacket on; black leather with flames on the upper part of the sleeves, "She delighted in dragging me round the town carrying her shopping. She bought me a few things as a way of saying thanks."

"Well that was nice of her" Sonic pulled a pose, "What do you think?"

"You look great, Zephyr." Shadow tossed Sonic his gloves.

"Say what, now?" He raised an eyebrow.

"You can't go changing you appearance and still call yourself Sonic," Shadow walked past Sonic and back into the living room to collect his jet shoes.

"Oh, that makes sense. Zephyr the Hedgehog." Sonic was beginning to get a taste for that name. "So what's your name going to be; Mr. Pointy?" He asked as he popped his own gloves back on.

"Scourge." Shadow gave his shoes a quick check to see what damage had been caused.

"Scourge? What kind of a name is Scourge?" Sonic asked.

"Well seeing as _you_ are the Scourge of my existence and I'm in _your_ body, it seemed apt." Seeing nothing wrong, he put his shoes on.

"Nice to know we have such a great relationship going." Sonic joked.

Shadow just glared at him. He then took the golden bands from around his wrists and clamped them back on Sonic's

"Hey, I like you and all Shads, but I don't play that way." Sonic blushed as he looked at Shadow's hands, firmly gripping his wrists.

Shadow rolled his eyes, "These are for your own protection. You have no control over the power my body commands and you're a danger to yourself as well as everyone around you."

"Oh, right." Sonic began feeling a bit foolish, "I knew that."

"Whatever," Shadow stood back, crossing his arms, "so now we just need to know where to go to find out who did this and have them change us back."

"Oh, I think _I've_ an idea where we can go" Sonic smirked.


	4. Splitting Headache

The looming structure of metal towered over the area, its tarnished metal glowing amber with the setting sun. Two hedgehogs, one green and one blue, were crouching behind a rather large pile of scrap, made of old buildings and robots.

After the blue hedgehog whispered something to his fellow, the green one spoke in a harsh tone.

"You want us to what?" Shadow was not looking pleased.

"Pretend we're a couple of guys wanting a machine to switch bodies; simple." Sonic replied.

"And what makes you think he'll agree to this?" Shadow was starting to feel Sonic was dragging him along on a wild goose chase.

"Because we'll offer him these." Sonic reached back into his navy quills and pulled from them a pair of large gemstones, one green the other, yellow.

"Those are mine!" Shadow scowled, recognising the Chaos Emeralds.

"And they're the perfect bargaining chips to get him to do what we want."

"You are aware he'll ask why we need this machine and who we are?" Shadow growled, "Not to mention try and part us from the emeralds before we get what we want."

"No sweat; we have our secret names thanks to you and besides I can think fast if I need to." Sonic stood up and walked towards the metal structure, shaped like a half buried egg with a moustache.

"Are you sure he's even in there?" Shadow was starting to hate this idea more and more.

"Who are you, what do you want?!" a voice crackled from some hidden speaker.

"Hey, we're looking for a special machine." Sonic was putting on some sort of gangster voice, Shadow was beginning to feel like his voice was being abused. "Word has it you can make a machine that can do pretty much anything."

"I'm far to busy to deal with the likes of you miscreants, go away before I'm forced to have you 'escorted' from the premises."

"We can pay you." Sonic blurted.

"I've no interest in your money, go away!" the voice was getting angry.

"Oh no, not money; I'm talking Chaos emeralds." Sonic revealed the glowing jewels towards the building.

"Why didn't you say sooner, come in, come in." The voice spoke warmly, each soft spoken word coated in false geniality.

The inside was, as expected, entirely metallic. There was strip lighting throughout the floors and ceilings, bathing the place with an eerie yellow glow. The hedgehogs walked into the plated corridor, highly aware of their current surroundings and the fact that they are casually walking into the lion's den with all but a simple dye job covering their identities. Large metal doors opened in front of them as they walked further into the base, each one sliding effortlessly into the ceiling. Each door would open, revealing passageways directing them to the central hub of the base. As the last door ascended, it opened out into a large workshop of sorts, with consoles beeping and machines buzzing and whirring about the place.

While neither had actually been to this particular base of Robotnik's, every inch of it was bringing back waves of memories from previous encounters. In the middle, hovering in some kind of vehicle was the source of the voice, they encountered. The rotund man was stroking his long ginger moustache.

"Welcome friends, I am Dr. Robotnik," He hovered over to some seats "please make yourself welcome, Mr...?"

"Zephyr; my colleague here is Scourge." Sonic pointed to his green counterpart, who was busy scanning the room with intense verdant eyes.

"Delighted, I'm sure," Robotnik was grinning like a Cheshire cat, "So gentlemen to the matter at hand, what sort of machine are you wanting?"

"We want one that can switch people's bodies," Sonic replied, giving Robotnik a large smirk.

"A mind switching device, you say?" Intrigue plastered itself across the doctor's face. "Whatever would you want that for?"

"I can't just tell you that now, can I?" Sonic grinned.

"Well if you were to tell me the exact situation involved for its use, I could have it tailored for you specifically." The light from the consoles glinting off Robotnik's round darkened glasses, as his grin grew wider.

"If you want doc, we can go else where." Sonic turned and started to walk out, "All we're asking is for a machine, no questions asked and in return you get two lovely emeralds." Sonic knew the chance for two getting hold of two Chaos Emeralds was too good for Robotnik to pass up.

"Very well." Robotnik muttered stroking his moustache, thinking of the various ways in which to 'part' the hedgehogs from their precious jewels as he did so, "The sort of machine you're after would be difficult to construct-"

"So you can't make it?" Shadow butted in.

"If you'll let me finish?" Robotnik glared at the green hedgehog. Now that he got a look at him, something seemed familiar about him; something about those emerald eyes, "The sort of machine you're after would be difficult to construct, but you're lucky enough to know I've completed such a machine already."

Robotnik turned and exited through a sliding bulkhead, motioning the hedgehogs to follow.

"I knew he'd be the one," Whispered Sonic, "we'll have this sorted in no time."

Shadow nodded curtly and continued walking after the doctor.

"Don't get your hopes up yet." Shadow warned, "This feels too easy, Robotnik hardly put up any resistance. Keep an eye out for any signs of a double-cross." Shadow's past with the doctor had made him wary or his actions and motives.

The room they entered looked as though no one had used it in years, the light highlighting the dust that hung in the air. The objects in the room were covered in a blanket of dust and grime.

"Please excuse the mess, I keep meaning to clean this place up. But being a genius, it's hard to find the time to do such a thing." He typed away at a console in his floating chair. "Ah ha, there it is." He swooped over to a far corner and began to run a diagnostic on a machine he had found.

Shadow and Sonic made their way over to him and stared at the contraption; underneath the years of dust was a large tarnished metal block, a slowly powering control panel positioned between two large glass cylinders. The machine hummed with changing frequencies, lights flickering on and off, while Robotnik was looking intently at it and the read-outs from his chair.

Shadow and Sonic both stared at each other, their eyes losing that glimmer of hope they had just minutes before. If this machine hasn't been used for what looks like years, then what or who switch their bodies in the first place?

Even still if this machine didn't cause this, could it still switch them back?

"There, all seems operational." Robotnik grinned.

"We'd like a demonstration, to make sure it still works." Shadow insisted.

"Why of course, I'd love to but as you can see I have no living test subjects," his grin got wider, "unless you two would like to try it for yourselves?"

Sonic grabbed Shadow by the arm and turned him to face away from Robotnik.

"If we take this risk, we can be out of here in a flash." Explained Sonic, his hushed voice masked by the ominous hums from the machine nearby.

"You're right, but we'll need to make sure to keep this machine from being used irresponsibly." Shadow whispered back.

"Sure, right after we've switched back." Sonic replied.

They turned back to face the fat man hovering in mid-air.

"Ok doc, you got yourself two subjects." Sonic grinned. "But at the first sign of trouble you'll stop the machine, or no Chaos Emeralds."

"Actually you'll need to leave those out of the machine, they may cause… unexpected results if they were to be included."

Sonic looked at Shadow, who nodded, and handed them over to Shadow. Shadow held the emeralds in his hands and with a look of great concentration uttered two words:

"Chaos Control!"

With a flash of white light the emeralds had vanished, leaving the two hedgehogs with the large hovering man, with a look of surprise on his face.

"Scourge, my boy," Robotnik flashed him a wicked smile, "Where did you pick up an ability like that?"

"Remember doc, no questions asked or we'll leave." Sonic reminded him.

Robotnik's smile vanished at being denied yet more information by a pair of rodents. A cunning look crossed his face, "Of course, no sense prying where noses needn't sniff around." He said, a false smile sliding across his face.

"You'll get the emeralds, providing this works." Shadow stressed as he opened the left hand pod and stepped inside, the glass case sliding shut behind him.

"Very well, I must say you drive a hard bargain." Robotnik silently cursed himself for not getting the emeralds first.

"Well, a guys gotta do, what a guys gotta do." Sonic said, hopping into the remaining right hand pod.

Robotnik scowled at Sonic as the pod slid closed, sealing him inside. He hovered between them and began typing away at the console in front of him.

"You'll experience some discomfort at first…" He explained, pressing a small button on the machine with the use of an extending hand from his vehicle.

The room filled with a loud buzz and an equally loud hum as the machine started. The hedgehogs felt a headache grow inside their respective heads, as it tried to force its way out of their skulls.

"…before the real pain begins!" He smiled as the hedgehogs began to scream in pain.

The procedure had barely begun when dull explosions could be heard outside. The building shook with the force of an earthquake as a Robotnik accessed his security feeds. Outside a small G.U.N. force could be seen waging a small war against the building.

"What!" Robotnik cried, "How did they find me so quickly?"

The firing died down as a single figure walked forward.

"Doctor Eggman, also known as Robotnik," an armoured man began, shouting through a megaphone, "you are under arrest for crimes against the citizens of Mobius, give yourself up or we'll take you in with force!" The figure stepped back and waved to the rest of the soldiers, starting the barrage of gunfire and grenades striking the egg-shaped building once more.

"Fools, they cannot capture me so easily!" cried Robotnik. He turned to the still screaming figures, "I'm sorry to say I have to cut and run, have fun!"

A panel in the floor slid open and Robotnik flew down and away, the panel clicking shut behind him.

Another explosion shook the building jarring large metal sections from the ceiling loose, dropping onto the machine below. A huge bang caused the two hedgehogs to be ejected from the machine as it was crushed by the ceiling above.

The green furred body of Sonic got up, feeling disorientated head pounding like someone had taken Knuckles, shrunk him and let him run riot inside his head.

"Did it work?" The green hedgehog looked at his hands, then up his arm; the peach fur, while covered in dust and soot, was still clearly visible underneath. "Yes!"

Sonic stood up gradually and began to stretch his legs out as the building shook again, causing more of the roof to fall in and Sonic to almost fall over.

"Woah, that doesn't sound good." Sonic began searching the rubble "Shadow! Shadow where are you!?" Sonic's voice wobbled slightly as he realised he couldn't see his fallen friend, a panicked look swept his face.

The neon lights, while flickering, managed to shine enough light onto Shadow's golden cuffs to alert Sonic to his whereabouts. He was unconscious, but still breathing as Sonic dragged him from under a toppled ceiling panel.

"Damn, this isn't good." said Sonic as he lifted Shadow onto his shoulders, "let's find us a way outta here, fast!" he then stumbled out of the collapsing room, through a now gaping hole in the wall; the only exit remaining.

The egg-shaped base, while carefully constructed by Robotnik; it was being easily deconstructed by the G.U.N. troops outside; their constant attacks buckling the main entrance of the building, giving them an opening in which to advance and secure the structure. Sonic dragged his feet along the floor, the procedure had left him feeling too weak to reach his top speed; the most he could manage was a brisk jog. The weight of carrying Shadow's comatose body didn't help much either, he found as he kept sliding off his shoulders now and again. But he wouldn't give up, it was his idea to come here in the first place and he wasn't about to be the last place he'd visit.

Turning the corner Sonic had managed to find a sewer entrance and, as slid Shadow's motionless body to the floor, he attempted to find a way to open it.

Sonic found, amongst the remains of a few maintenance bots and collapsed wall, a broken bar and used it to lever the door open. As it sprang open opened a louder explosion erupted behind him and a wave of metal forced him head first into the sewer, blocking the way behind him.

"Shadow!" Sonic cried as he was pulled by the flowing filth away from his unconscious friend, to weak to run against the sewage river.

Explosions could still be heard as Sonic was slowly pulled under, the dirty water dragging him below, as his body gave in to exhaustion.

Sonic woke to find he was laying face first into a bank of mud; he had been swept to the shore of a nearby lake.

"Errgghh," Sonic groaned as he pulled himself up once more, "Shadow…"

"Yes?"

"Huh?!" Sonic shot bolt upright and looked around but no one could be seen. "Shadow is that you?"

"Of course it's me, where are you?" Shadow's voice was sounding odd, echoing slightly.

As Sonic began to look around he felt his left arm twitch. It rose on its own and rubbed his forehead, before falling back down to his side. Looking at his left arm in horror, he pulled himself to the water's reflection, gazed into it and gasped. One of his eyes, his left, was noticeably darker than his right and moving slightly of its own volition.

"Oh no." Sonic's voice cried, an odd two-tone quality now apparent in his voice.

Back at Robotnik's base, the contingent of G.U.N. soldiers were sifting through the remains looking for their target. One soldier raised a large metal sheet to uncover the battered body of a dark blue hedgehog.

"Sir I've found something" He cried out, drawing the attention of his superior who made his way over.

"What is it?" He gazed with bi-coloured eyes at the body. "It can't be, can it?"

"Sir?" the soldier looked slightly baffled.

"Have this 'thing' contained and taken back to HQ, I'll question it when it recovers."


	5. Minds over matter

The journey from the lake was long. With Shadow instinctively trying to skate while Sonic was trying to run, it made the blue speedster with two minds in his head tumble more often than they'd have cared to count. After trying to get Shadow to cooperate and run properly and his stubbornness not budging, they were finally resigned to walking across the wide open fields, going off with little to no idea as to where they were.  
Somewhere rattling around Sonic's head, he could feel Shadow's presence smiling.  
"Ok. Once we get to a road or a town, where are we gonna go, Shads?" Sonic inquired.  
"We are going to Station Square to try and track down who did this to us," Shadow replied, half echoing in Sonic's green-furred head and half speaking with his lips.  
"How exactly?" Sonic asked.  
"Using GUN Resources I should be able to pull up a list detailing power usage and cross-referencing the areas with any unusual deliveries."  
Sonic raised an eyebrow, "GUN Can do that?"  
"Unofficially, yes." The face of the hero of Mobius smirked, in a fashion unfamiliar to it.  
"Well, I'm officially taking them off my Christmas list." Sonic's grin this time was more his than Shadow's. The dark hedgehog's presence in Sonic's mind gave the mental equivalent of a shrug.  
"I wouldn't have bothered to add them to it in the first place."  
By this point the sun had long set and the night sky was but a sheet of black covered in tiny stars and a large glowing moon; the wind was slow and cool, the scent of flowers following in its wake. The verdant hedgehog was beginning to slow, even slower than the pace they were currently keeping.  
"Hey, Stripes, I'm beat." Sonic yawned loudly "Can we stop for a nap or something?"  
"I'd mock you for being weak, but I can admit that I'm also feeling tired," Shadow muttered. Sonic's body was a strange thing, feeling somehow...bouncier at times but apparently also exhausting itself more easily.  
"Well, thanks," Sonic replied sleepily, "I think."  
So saying, the fur-dyed hedgehog finally slumped up against a convenient tree and slid down with a light 'thud'; Sonic's eyes looked up towards the stars and he sighed.  
Sonic thought for a moment then chuckled slightly, "You know, after all we've been through I had thought we'd grown closer, this is a lot closer than I had imagined we'd get,"  
"You and me both, Faker." Shadow agreed dryly.  
"Heh, you call me Faker, you were the one who was pretending to be me around Amy," Sonic grinned, "I'm surprised she didn't figure it out, actually."  
Shadow snorted, "With the amount of times she's mistaken me for you, you would think she'd go and see an optician. She must have very poor eyesight."  
There was a dual quality to the laughter of the green hedgehog after that statement, a strange, but not unpleasant sound to Sonic's ears. Soon afterwards though, mis-matched eyes finally began to slowly close, as though invisible lead weights were holding them down as the consciousness of both hedgehogs drifted into a deep sleep.  
Deep within G.U.N. Headquarters, a dark blue hedgehog was being restrained; its legs and arms strapped down to a metal table. Scientists were hovering around the body; drawing blood samples and shaving small patches of fur all over the unconscious form, then attaching little pads which connected to various machines surrounding it.  
The room in which the hedgehog was contained was quite large, three of its four walls were covered in a wide variety of medical equipment, most of which were reflecting the bright sterile white light being emitted from the ceiling. On the remaining wall was a large one-way mirror and the only exit out of this room; a vacuum-sealed door.  
On the other side of this entrance, standing rigidly to attention in a long corridor peering through the other side of the mirror was a certain high-ranking officer, observing the poor hedgehog with cold green and brown eyes.  
"How long till the blood tests come through?" he enquired as one of the scientists emerged through the sealed door.  
"At least 24 hours, Sir," the scientist standing next to him spoke softly. He was taller than the Commander by only a few inches, but felt dwarfed by him nonetheless.  
"That long! What is the reason for that delay?" His voice rose enough to make the mirror shake.  
"As we no longer have any actual blood samples from the other...'experiment' we will have to go through what remaining records we have concerning the works of Professor Robotnik and compare any similarities to our 'subject'," the scientist nodded in the direction of the hedgehog.  
The Commander frowned and strode away down the corridor; he stopped just before a corner and turned back to the scientist.  
"You will have those results on my desk as soon as you have them. Do I make my self clear, Dr. Turner?" The tone was hard, his words less of a question and more a stated fact.  
With a slight croak in his voice, the doctor replied, "Yes, Sir." It was as thought the Commander had him by the throat.  
"Good." And with that the Commander disappeared around the corner; Dr. Turner's shoulders finally relaxed.  
"I need to get a different job..."  
Back in the sterile room, the midnight blue hedgehog's hand clenched into a fist.  
And at the same time outside and far away in the field, the green hedgehog whose fur was proving to be suitable camouflage amongst the grass was tossing and turning...  
Sonic was running through Green Hill Zone. The sky was clear, the sun was brilliant and the wind was blowing through his quills while he was approaching Mach two. He flew through the air as he jumped over a rippling pool, dark shapes mirrored in the crystal waters. As he looked towards his landing spot, something in the pool caught his eyes; just enough to fumble the landing and Sonic fell face first into...  
A metal corridor, red lights and sirens filling it with a sense of threat and danger. Sonic was still running but felt something pull at his arm – and when he looked back he saw concerned blue eyes staring into his bewildered green ones. He was leading a small human girl; her thin form wrapped in a sky-blue dress and her hair looked like spun gold as it was billowing behind. And the fear in her eyes explained it all - they were running from a horror bigger than she could have ever imagined.  
In an instinctive reaction, Sonic gripped her wrist tightly and ran straight on, some complusion he couldn't name driving him on.  
But still, with no idea where he was going the blue hero could only lead them through a maze of metal corridors; it seemed almost unreal to him, everything looking alike while the walls rushed by, his head curiously empty of all thoughts but one, the only thing that mattered was him saving that girl...  
...and then a door in front of them opened and suddenly they were in the middle of the universe on a viewing platform.  
The view was amazing. Even Sonic, who was actually trying to focus on finding another exit, couldn't help but be awestruck by the sheer space which his home planet Mobius filled when seen from above. Soft blue light was reflected from its atmosphere, washing over the girl and the hedgehog in a soothing change from the harsh red warning lights that flooded the rest of this place.  
Sonic turned his head and looked back at the windows as he caught a glimpse of something, the same something he had seen in the pool. He stopped and looked closer this time.  
It was Shadow.  
Shadow was reflecting in the observation windows and he was holding this girl's hand, not Sonic. The hero of Mobius was slowly realising where he was; the first spherical Bernoulli space colony ARK.  
And this was the night Maria would die.  
Sonic panicked. At this moment he didn't care anymore that this was the past, didn't care that these were events that had long since happened and that he wasn't even in his own body. He only knew that he wouldn't be able to bear to see a child shot dead before his eyes.  
Turning with lightning speed, he pulled at the girl's arm and began running again through the passageways. He didn't know where he was going. It didn't matter. Carelessly turning this way and that, Sonic had a feeling as if he was swallowed up by a maze far darker and far more deep than any space station could ever have been constructed. Maria was oddly silent as he towed her along, but kept up with him at his hand – until they were suddenly at a dead end.  
Sonic's heart beat faster, the hedgehog having no idea what to do now, but feeling how something was closing in on them. He almost didn't realize as the blonde girl suddenly disentangled himself from Sonic's hand and stepped towards a doorway he hadn't seen. With a feeling of dread and a part of his mind suddenly again feeling strangely foggy, he followed her as she walked inside. The room's edges lay in darkness, but what was visible seemed just like the rest of what Sonic had seen; metal walls, metal floor and a metal ceiling. There were consoles with flashing lights all in front of large glass cylinders; they shone dully as the girl approached one of consoles and seemed to press a button with trance-like security that let one the cylinders raise into the ceiling.  
Without thinking, Sonic stepped inside. By now he almost felt as if he had little to no control anymore about what was happening - and then the cylinder crashed down around him and sealed him in; and in a wave, all his feelings returned. Sonic whipped around and started all at once to bang his fists against the glass, pressing his face against the cold surface as he tried to scream, to reach her with his voice. Why had he gone in there? What was this strange world where the dead were alive and the living only re-enacted memories?  
Sonic felt almost like he was suffocating in this tube now, knowing that this was so wrong... and then blonde girl that had once meant the world to someone, turned to face him and spoke her final words as tears ran down her face.  
"Sayonara, Sonic the Hedgehog..."  
And the ground beneath Sonic gave away and then he was falling into the void of space. The last thing he saw was only a man whose face was shrouded in darkness burst into the room and shoot the girl, her wide eyes remaining open as she fell face first to the floor.  
Sonic's scream was soundless.  
Then the capsule began to spin wildly as it neared Mobius and began to heat up as it hit the atmosphere. Sonic, even in his catatonic state now heard laughing as he descended and it was Robotnik's laughter; and then as though on some sort of cue the glass surrounding Sonic began to crack. The lines etched their way across the pod akin a see-through spider-web and with an almighty smashing sound, Sonic was all at once subject to intense heat and light. He felt his body burn, his flesh blacken and peel as he plummeted.  
Sonic tried desperately to scream, but all he could draw into his lungs was searing heat.


End file.
